British Academy of Management HR SIG Workshop 2013
Managing in Crisis/Crisis in Managing: Exploring the future of Human Resource Management
Date: 9th and 10th of April 2013
Venue: Newcastle University Business School
Keynote speakers:
Professor Helen Francis, Edinburgh Napier University Business School
Professor Paul Sparrow, Lancaster University Management School
Professor Paul Thompson, University of Strathclyde Business School
Is human resource management in crisis? What do we understand crisis to mean and imply? What are the central features of organisational management practices within the context of crisis and their consequences? These unresolved questions present us with the challenge of re-thinking the relevance of human resource management in conceptual and practical terms. The complexity of organisations calls for diverse interpretive routes that critically approach the scope and meaning of crisis (i.e., in discipline, in practice, in professional terms) and scrutinise the actions taken by organisations in the management of people and the organisation of work.Conceptually, the orientation these constructs take in theorization and research needs further expansion. For instance, the multiplicity of perspectives in relation to the meaning and purpose of human resource management continues to be a subject of debate (cf. Watson, 2010; Delbridge, 2011; Thompson, 2011); however, it seems to focus mainly on a war of paradigmatic proportions. In the end, the key question of whether human resource management is in crisis, posed by Sparrow and Marchington (1998) almost 15 years ago remains relevant in light of new theoretical developments and significant contextual changes, such as the global financial crisis.
In practical terms, current times are characterized by a fundamental uncertainty where organisations in all sectors (private, public and voluntary) face crises (i.e., financial, material, moral, etc.). An emerging body of research has explored organizational responses (cf. IJHRM special issue edited by Zagelmeyer and Gollan, 2012). However, we need further insight into what organizations, managers and individuals understand these crises to mean and how they deal with them in both rhetorical and practical terms. Unpacking these discussions at different analytical levels (macro, meso and micro) would help us to understand more comprehensively the way in which individuals, groups and organisations make sense of, negotiate and manage the different crises they face, and the implications they have for human resource management, work and employment practices.
CALL FOR PAPERS
This workshop aims to explore the various ways in which the term ‘crisis’ has significance for contemporary human resource management, work and employment. First, through examining how crisis as a concept has been conceptualized and used in the context of human resource management, employment regimes and more broadly the regulation of work within the context of increasingly globalized work environments. Papers might therefore address (but are not limited to) the following issues:
1. Is human resource management in crisis? Is the HR function in crisis?
2. Rethinking “best practice” in times of crisis.
3. Changing forms of human resource management, work and employment practices emerging from organizational responses to crisis.
4. Implications of crisis in managing careers at individual and organizational levels.
5. Ethics, governance, sustainability and human resource management.
6. Union responses to the global economic crisis and its consequences for workers.
7. Employee engagement, voice and participation in times of crisis.
8. Performance management and motivation in recessionary environments.
9. The crisis in context –rhetorical use of crisis in organizational management practices, management of inequalities, insecurity, and regulation across contexts, human resource management responses such as downsizing and rationalization.
We invite contributions from a variety of theoretical and methodological perspectives that address any of the areas above or that address the workshop theme more generally. Papers from doctoral and early‑career researchers are especially welcome. Please submit a full paper or an extended abstract of around 2,000 words to BAMHRSIG@ncl.ac.uk .
Deadline for submission of abstracts:
31st January 2013
Notification of acceptance: 28th of February 2013
Further details about the registration and accommodation for this event will follow shortly. Registration will cost £100 for BAM members. Details of BAM membership are available here: http://www.bam.ac.uk/membership-benefits .
The workshop is being organized by the Human Resource Management, Work and Employment Group, Newcastle University Business School: http://www.ncl.ac.uk/nubs/staff/subject/hrmob.htm
For queries regarding submissions please contact:
Professor Stephen Procter - s.j.procter@ncl.ac.uk
Dr Jenny K Rodriguez - jenny.rodriguez@ncl.ac.uk
Dr Tracy Scurry - tracy.scurry@ncl.ac.uk
ReferencesDelbridge, R. (2011) The critical future of HRM. In P. Blyton, E. Heery & P. Turnbull (Eds.) Reassessing the Employment Relationship, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 21-40. Sparrow, P. & Marchington, M. (1998) Introduction: is HRM in crisis? In P. Sparrow & M. Marchington (Eds.) Human Resource Management: The New Agenda, London: Financial Times, pp. 3-22.Sheehan, M., & Sparrow, P. (2012) Introduction: Global human resource management and economic change: a multiple level of analysis research agenda, The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 23(12): 2393-2403.Thompson, P. (2011) The trouble with HRM, Human Resource Management Journal, 21(4): 355-367. Watson, T.J. (2010) Critical social science, pragmatism and the realities of HRM, The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 21(6): 915-931.Zagelmeyer, S. & Gollan, P.J. (2012) Exploring terra incognita: preliminary reflections on the impact of the global financial crisis upon human resource management, The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 23(16): 3287-3294.
Published: 26th November 2012
